Fresh reports on the Cleveland Browns, NFL, Pro Football Hall of Fame and Super Bowl.

Heck no on dome .... not even when Lake Erie freezes over

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By Steve Doerschuk

My big brother’s prize for “best costume” at a long-ago downtown Canton Halloween party was a white football signed by the 1964 Browns. He gave it to me a few years ago. The Browns have masqueraded as an NFL team for too many of the years since we
...

My big brother’s prize for “best costume” at a long-ago downtown Canton Halloween party was a white football signed by the 1964 Browns. He gave it to me a few years ago. The Browns have masqueraded as an NFL team for too many of the years since we played tackle football in our yard on Sherman Church Road. I have no plans to punt that ball, though.

• After Sunday’s touchdown bomb to Brandon Tate in Cincinnati, replacement referee Jerry Hughes said, “The following play is under review.”

Now there’s a guy with a future.

• • •

Jimmy Haslam was at practice talking to Tom Heckert when we strolled out.

A bit later, Mike Holmgren appeared at the complex door and began the long walk to the far fields where preparations for Buffalo were rolling along.

As we may have mentioned, it is always easy to spot Haslam in a crowd. He might not be the only guy with white-gray hair. He is the only guy with his hands on his hips.

A bit earlier, Haslam was downtown hob-nobbing with Cleveland City Council. They talked about a variety of things, we’ll surmise, but the item that is getting kicked around like an undrafted rookie cornerback is the roof.

The new owner is a big brainstormer, and this apparently is one of his brainstorms. The way we read it, he loves a good brainstorm, but not from the standpoint of concluding anything important letting the storm play out.

Easy for me to say, safe and warm in the press box, but mark us down for a NO in a retractable roof.

One thing that makes us, uh, us, is our weather. Why make our game days look the same as the ones in Phoenix and Minnesota and Indy?

• • •

We looked up the following in the context of whether Pat Shurmur would be around when the final leak in the roof is patched and they are ready to play domeball.

Here is a look at how long the NFL’s current head coaches have been with their teams, not counting the two games played so far in 2012: